“Jillian,” said Audrey, walking to my desk. “Can you help me with something? Give me an envelope.”
“Sure,” I answered, pulling a blank envelope out of my drawer. “What are you mailing?”
“Well Josh [her grandson] got some money refunded from his apartment in Hawaii, and he sent the check to me so I could deposit it for him. He’s in Taiwan, you know.”
“Oh, wow! That’s far. How is he going to endorse the check, though?”
“Well, we have to be verrrry sneaky,” Audrey whispered, grabbing my pen and Josh’s check. “We must sign his name for him. Help me write like a teenage boy.”
“Umm, how can I help?”
“Just tell me if this looks like a boy’s writing.”
“Ok,” I said, watching her as she tried to sign Josh’s name with her left hand.
“There!” she proclaimed, holding up the forged check. “Looks good, huh?”
“Yeah, it does! Good job!”
“Too bad they won’t let me cash this for myself. I would keep some of the money for all of the trouble this is causing me.”
“You can’t steal money from your grandson, Audrey!”
“Well, why not? I stole money from my kids all the time. That’s what parents do.”
Why didn’t I think of that??